The Show Must Go On – Thank Goodness!

June 23, 2021 / HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, PUBLISHER'S PAGE

Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in Heat Treat Today‘s June 2021 Buyers Guide print edition.

Doug Glenn
Publisher and Founder
**Heat Treat** **Today**

We’re seeing the backside of COVID as it slouches off into the sunset. Masks are coming off. People are standing less than six feet apart. Hands are being shaken as opposed to elbows being bumped. And planes, trains, buses, interstate highways, office buildings, and restaurants are starting to fill up again with real live people.

So are convention centers.

Such is the case in the North American heat treat industry. . . and none too soon. ASM International recently announced that their IMAT event which includes the long-standing Heat Treat Society sponsored Heat Treat Conference and Exposition (aka Heat Treat Show) will be live and face-to-face this coming September 14-16, in St. Louis. Amen and amen!

Heat Treat Today is one of the sponsors of the ASM Heat Treat Show, and we couldn’t be happier to get together with all of our friends and colleagues at this year’s event. On page 8 of this edition, Eric Hutton explains a bit more about the event. Be sure to read his column. This publication will be heavily promoting the Heat Treat Show as something good and worthy of your attendance. Considering that the last major face-to-face industry event was the 2019 ASM Heat Treat Show, it will be a real blessing to be back in a booth, shaking hands and catching up with industry colleagues, customers, and prospects.

“People are happier and make better decision when they are well informed” has been the driving force behind all that Heat Treat Today does. Our goal is to help people become well informed, and with nearly 24 months since the last face-to-face event, there is certainly a lot of informing that needs to happen. That’s why we’re excited to be one of the key promoters of this year’s event. We hope that you’ll take the time to attend the show, and bring your entire heat treat department with you.

Another way we keep people well informed is by helping them connect with suppliers who can provide them with the equipment, supplies, components, and/or services that they need. That’s exactly what this month’s issue is all about – connecting buyers and sellers of heat treat equipment and services. This is Heat Treat Today's 1st Annual Buyers Guide. We’re super pleased with how it has turned out, and we are absolutely certain that next year’s Heat Treat Buyers Guide will be even bigger and better.

In the Heat Treat Buyers Guide, you will be able to find ANY heat treat equipment, supplies, components, sub-systems, or heat treating services that is known to man. If not, let us know and we’ll see if we can add it to the list of improvements for next year. On page 6, our managing editor, Karen Gantzer, explains how to get the most out of this resource. That’s a page worth referencing.

And don’t forget, all of the information presented in this annual print version of the Heat Treat Buyers Guide is updated continually at www.HeatTreatBuyersGuide.com. In the online version, you’ll be able to access the very latest information. When this print issue was going to the printer, there were still a significant number of heat treat industry suppliers who had not updated their listings. By this time next year, there will definitely be more, so don’t forget to check out the online version of this Heat Treat Buyers Guide for the very latest.

If you don’t find what you’re looking for, please let us know. We’re always glad to help.

Whether it’s the Heat Treat Buyers Guide or the upcoming ASM Heat Treat Show, we hope you become and stay well informed in 2021. If there’s anything we can do to help, please let us know. We’re wishing you the very best in 2021 – a true face-to-face, closer than six feet, hand shaking, blessed year.

The Show Must Go On – Thank Goodness! Read More »

Fringe Friday: Future of AM in COVID

February 5, 2021 / FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, SINTERING POWDER/METAL TECHNICAL CONTENT

Source: AMPOWER Report

Sometimes our editors find items that are not exactly “heat treat” but do deal with interesting developments in one of our key markets: aerospace, automotive, medical, energy, or general manufacturing. To celebrate getting to the “fringe” of the weekend, Heat Treat Today presents today’s Heat Treat Fringe Friday Best of the Web article on how COVID-19 affected the additive manufacturing (AM) industry.

The trajectory of AM has been altered due to COVID, but specifically by what has happened to supply lines, traceability, and service providers. Further topics, details, graphs, and analyses are highlighted in this article by AMPOWER Report: “Severe economy impact from disruption of trade routes.”

An excerpt:

[blockquote author=”AMPOWER” style=”1″]This reorientation of supply chains offers significant potential for Additive Manufacturing. The accompanying flexibility and availability can represent a considerable added value that has hardly or not at all been considered so far and may also justify a cost increase due to risk reduction.[/blockquote]

All images from Additive-Manufacturing-Report.com.

Fringe Friday: Future of AM in COVID Read More »

IHEA Monthly Economic Report: “Who’s on First?”

October 28, 2020 / FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT ECONOMIC NEWS

Do you remember, or have you ever heard of the comedy duo of Abbot and Costello of the 1940s and early 1950s? One of their most popular skits is “Who’s on First?” which is hilarious, but its title, theme, and overall performance are apt reflections of the questions, frustrations, and confusing answers we are experiencing on a daily basis as we continue to navigate through uncharted waters. September’s Industrial Heating Equipment Association’s (IHEA) Executive Economic Summary begins with questions we’d all like to know the answers to about the future of the economy/recovery and ends with continued hope. “There will soon be a debate as to what to call the period we are entering. Is this the post-pandemic recovery? Is it the second wave pandemic era? Is this the beginning of the ‘blue wave’ or the start of the purple revenge? Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? At this point a case could be made for any of these.”

It’s always good to look at the data of the indices to get a pulse of what’s happening. Of the 11 indices, five are trending in the positive direction and six are trending negative, however, the report states that “the shifts have been subtle and it is hard to say whether the future trends will continue to follow the current pattern.”

The report continues, “In many respects the economy now seems in better shape than it was just a few months ago and far better than many had expected at this point. That is reflected in the indicators that showed improvement this month.” The gains were in the new automobile/light truck sales, steel consumption, industrial capacity utilization, metal prices, and factory orders.

Vehicle sales are sensitive to the performance of the economy. Demand is slowly coming back.

New home starts, capital expenditure, PMI new orders, credit, durable goods and transportation experienced a decline last month, however, in “many of these readings the changes from last month were minor and the numbers remain far stronger than they were even as recently as July and August. The economy is changing and that has meant decline for some and progress for others.”

The level of steel consumption has been rising steadily since falling into the doldrums.

While the upcoming election may bring changes, the summary states, “The reality is that the focus of the next year will be the same regardless of who wins the White House and/or Congress. The pandemic may dominate the economy as it has through 2020.” The projections for 2021 fall into two categories. The first scenario is one in which “the recovery will start picking up speed as this year ends and will continue to gain traction into the first half of next year before slowing down slightly.” The second scenario is the more cautious assumption based on an expected spread of the virus through the colder months. The good news is that in both scenarios the end of 2021 will see growth numbers that will look a lot like the numbers at the start of 2020.

Finally, given all the uncertainty, what should be on the watch list for business and manufacturers specifically? The summary concludes, “The key factors to watch will be those that reflect month to month changes and that will include the Purchasing Managers’ Index as well as the Credit Managers’ Index. Both look pretty solid right now but have shown some signs of concern as the growth spurt in the PMI has faded and the CMI is starting to show issues with the unfavorable factors. Two other indices to focus on will be capital expenditure and capacity utilization. If the manufacturers are worried about the future, they will be reducing their levels of capital investment (both in terms of machine purchasing as well as physical plant).” The only other early warning sign to look for is in transportation. Parcel activity is going to grow as the holiday spending season ramps up, which means paying closer attention to rail and truck volumes.

Check out the full report to see specific index growth and analysis which is available to IHEA member companies. For membership information, and a full copy of the 12-page report, contact Anne Goyer, executive director of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA). Email Anne by clicking here.

IHEA Monthly Economic Report: “Who’s on First?” Read More »

2020 Heat Treat Themes for Intellectual Fitness

September 30, 2020 / FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

What have we learned these past six months? Well, for starters, everyone misses being face-to-face! Yet many heat treaters have taken this time to be flexible and innovative, building their intellectual fitness, so to speak.

This article, a Heat Treat Today Original Content piece, highlights some of the major themes which digital opportunities provide to heat treaters. You may note that some of these opportunities are still being offered; please reference company websites to confirm.

“COVID-19 came along… [but] it forced me to look into other projects which may be even more interesting. And I decided to build my intellectual property.”

-Harb Nayar, president of TAT Technologies, LLC on Heat Treat Radio

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Signs of life pre-April 2020 seem to be coming back, though many people are still reckoning with the work constraints. This past quarter, and even into Q3, heat treaters have seen a remarkable initiative to make learning online available. Heat Treat Today did a select study* of what a few of the most recent, heat treat specific events had to offer. The results of the examination demonstrates trends in the types of themes which heat treaters can improve their “intellectual fitness.”

Summary

A few themes stick out as key content: the fundamentals, quality control, additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing, and maintenance concerns.

These themes were made available to heat treaters in the form of three main presentations: session or lecture format; panel discussion; round table. All platforms engaged in some form of online sessions which colored more lecture/seminar styled with scholarly professionals to addresses given by industry leaders or technical insiders. Larger, lengthier events, such as Furnaces North America and SECO/WARWICK’s e-Seminar incorporated panel discussions in addition to single-speaker sessions. Truly unique was the announced “round table” access at the Ceramics Expo Connect’s session on September 24th, “How to Improve Your Ceramic Products Material Properties Through Raw Material Optimization?”

Within these structures, a few presenters took advantage of the digital opportunity to offer case studies and live demonstrations of certain methods and processes. At the e-Seminar, multiple opportunities for this included “Symptoms of a Burner Issue – How to Solve It” and “Revealing the Secret of Carburizing,” while Buehler’s Wilson Hardness Days (WHD) event promises “live demonstrations of DiaMet software.” Only a few of the events examined offered the opportunity to submit questions before the presentation occurred. Many sessions in this online forum were pre-recorded well in advance, so this might contribute as to why soliciting questions before the presentations wasn’t as widespread.

Four Themes of 2020

The Fundamentals

This one is not surprising. “The Fundamentals” refers to any overview, back-to-the-basics type of session that hits major ideas in the industry which might refine practices, but does not challenge or recreate heat treating theory/practice. An example of this is the technical session on day one of the FNA: “The Importance and the Proper Way to Monitor Polymer Quenches” to be given by Keisuke Kuroda of Idemitsu Lubricants America.

Hubbard-Hall’s webinar on cleaning titled “Optimizing Cleaning in Heat Treat Processes” promised to cover “the influence of contaminations in different heat treatment applications,” something that may not be as exciting as nitrogen gas quenching, but is still essential to know. At WHD, the event notes that “Machine Calibration and Servicing” will be a guaranteed part of the webinar on hardness testing.

Quality Control

Not to be confused with “The Fundamentals,” this theme encapsulates topics about implementing new theory and improving or refining current practice.

At the Ceramics Expo Connect, a session on “Powering a Mobile Future: The Role of Ceramics in Taking Solid State Batteries from Theory to Practice and Improving Lithium Ion Models” demonstrated this theme. If you attend the e-Seminar, you may have heard the panel “Maintenance in the Age of Industrial 4.0 Description,” which also falls into this theme. At a more particular level, Buehler will introduce the new Rockwell Tester at their event.

Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing

At the cutting edge of industry development, these young applications in the heat treat world have been getting a lot of attention, with other forward-thinking topics on the horizon as well (like IoT and Industry 4.0). Buzz a constant buzz of these processes were apparent, particularly in the FNA 2020 schedule.

One of the technical session at FNA 2020 will be given by Dan Herring, the Heat Treat Dr., titled “Will Additive Manufacturing Add or Take Away Heat Treating?” At the e-Seminar, “3D Printing—Revolution or Evolution” was the title of one provocative panel discussion.

Maintenance

This is another big theme, and rightly so: maintenance concerns can cause problems with the heat treating process which could result in poor results, or dangerous outcomes.

FNA 2020 will be dealing with maintenance questions a lot over the next few days. On a micro-scale, Hubbard Hall’s webinar will be addressing these questions: “How closed cleaning machines contribute to cost efficiency and sustainability” and “How companies overcome specific cleaning challenges.”

Other Themes

“Troubleshooting” and “adapting to COVID-19” also stood out as recurring themes, though many sessions were concerned with these in relation to quality and future planning. Additionally, “COVID-19” in particular was considered during multi-day events as it related to pivoting one’s business strategy whereas single-day events focused on topics which are periphery to COVID-19 like “supply-chain” and “future of heat treat.”

Ok, But Does This Mean Anything?

Heat treaters are adaptive, responding to changes. But beyond picking up the latest item on the block, heat treaters want to make sure that their operations are reliable and excellent, hence the heavy focus on “The Fundamentals” and “Quality Control.” Testing new ideas and refining maintenance strategies are implemented, but it seems that this is typically after heat treaters know that they are performing with excellence in their day-to-day.

Further information on these events can be found on the company websites.

*The study focused on five of the most well-publicized and widely circulated events in the heat treat industry in August and September of 2020. The study is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather a case study of trends which may serve to be indicative of larger trends in the heat treat industry.

2020 Heat Treat Themes for Intellectual Fitness Read More »

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